unsung heroes like Tara Maclay
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- čas přidán 17. 10. 2020
- Here's a mediation on the power (magic, if you will!) of empathy, the unhelpfulness of shaming, with some general Buffy rants thrown in for good measure.
Tara stans rise up!
Also if I speak it to the Universe then Amber Benson and Anthony Head will definitely collab on a folk album at some point, that's how manifestation works right?
I made this because I think there's a lot we can learn from Tara, but also because I feel like the only times I ever see her talked about on YT it's always in relation to the Bury Your Gays trope which is valid because, she's one of the blueprints unfortunately! But she's a character that's meant a lot to me and I wanted to make something that acknowledged EVERYTHING her character represented, not just her death. Also I've seen the image of her when she's just been shot with the gunshot wound in her chest wayyy too many times so I just wanted an excuse to contribute some nice if somewhat extra imagery in the thumbnail!
Music;
Past Sadness - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
The fancy old-timey-style backdrop I downloaded for the 'CZcams reaction channel recreation' I got from CopyCatFilms online, credit to Farrin N. Abbot!
And of course, all imagery used here is used under Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the copyright act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
Other videos referenced!
Rowan Ellis's video on Bury Your Gays;
• Bury Your Gays: Why Do...
The Take's video on Bury Your Gays;
• The "Bury Your Gays" T...
Council of Geek's videos on Bury Your Gays;
• The "Bury Your Gays" T...
• Queer Mortality Rates ...
Passion of the Nerd's video talking about the Masculine and Feminine in Buffy in A New Man;
• A New Man • S04E12 • T...
Also in The Yoko Factor;
• The Yoko Factor • S04E...
Some articles that were referenced/would be good to read!
All the allegations against Buffy's creator
screenrant.com/joss-whedon-ab...
Coronavirus and the language of war;
www.newstatesman.com/science-...
www.theguardian.com/commentis...
Coronavirus Pandemic and War Talk;
acpuk.org.uk/war_talk/
Scientific & general articles on Motive Attribution Asymmetry;
The bias that can explain endless conflicts;
www.thecut.com/2014/11/bias-t...
Motive attribution asymmetry for love vs. hate drives intractable conflict;
www.pnas.org/content/111/44/1...
Jon Ronson's Ted Talk - How one tweet can ruin your life;
• How one tweet can ruin...
Trump defends calling Coronavirus 'The Chinese Virus';
• 'Not racist at all': D...
Trump slams cancel culture in 2020 RNC speech;
• Trump SLAMS "Cancel Cu...
LASTLY, but absolutely not least because Brene Brown is an absolute f***ing angel and her work has kept me sane this year and I highly recommend her to everyone,
Brene Brown on Russell Brand's Under The Skin;
• Vulnerability & Power ...
Brene Brown Ted Talk - Listening To Shame;
• Listening to shame | B...
(also y'know what whilst I'm here)
Brene Brown Ted Talk - The Power of Vulnerability;
• The power of vulnerabi...
Brene Brown's books have been a Godsend this year and they're all on audible so go check those out too, but if not her podcast Unlocking Us is on Spotify and (for me personally) the episodes with Harriet Lerner, Alicia Keys, Sonya Renee Taylor, Tarana Burke, Laverne Cox and Glennon Doyle have been so powerful and interesting, so they're there for ya if you feel like it :)
I hope everyone's taking care of themselves, thank you for watching! - Krátké a kreslené filmy
One of my mottos in life is 'Be Like Tara' she makes me feel so comfortable. Thank you for this beautiful video
thats a great motto, she is an icon :) thanks for watching!
Thank you. You're point about the lack of a real catharsis for the grief of Tara's death was spot on. She was the rock of the group, the reliable one, the person that took being welcomed into the group and repaid them tenfold by always being there when she was needed. Emotional support, a shoulder to lean on for all of them, the most consistent parental figure for Dawn in Season 6 (read, the only one that never comes close to getting her killed), and all around one of the most moral characters. She took the abuse from others, but never let it change her. All it did was strengthen her resolve not to be an abuser or a taker. I think she was killed off to deprive the characters of their best moral compass, but the follow-up in Season 7 wasn't executed nearly well enough to show this
I imagine if Tara was in Season 7, the argument between Buffy and the rest in 7x19 wouldn't have escalated the way it did, since she would have looked at it in a more reasonable and empathetic way than the rest while seeing all sides.
Anyway, I totally agree with you and Elle that we didn't get any real catharsis for the grief from her death, which is why I refuse to accept she ever died. I know she died, but not to me.
I'm a huge fan of Tara Maclay but I also love Dawn a lot and consider her really overhated, she's overall my 18th favorite character in the whole Buffyverse, while Tara is 6th. So, thank you very much for this video, you described everything I loved about Tara, and also made a case for Dawn.
Thank you for this video- I too have forever been grateful to see a shy, quiet, traumatized lesbian witch portrayed with such love and quiet strength. There is no other character like Tara out there. The thing about Amber not coming back in S7 because of her schedule is, as far as I can tell, a lie told by Joss and ME to save face. Amber has said numerous times that the only storyline possibility she knew of for S7 was coming back as the first, she did not turn down 'wish' scenario, because she never knew about it.
Great video. Tara was always my favorite character. 💜
Thanks! She's my top 3 now, after Buffy and Faith, I have a feeling if she'd had more time on the show she probably would've become my favorite by the end because she's such a force for good plus I think more screen time could've ended with more character development which means would could explore her flaws and insecurities more too :( what could've been! Thank you for watching and commenting :)
Saw this video by chance and felt I had to comment upon it.
I agree very much with what you say in this video, especially about Tara who was by some distance my favourite character on the show. She had a quiet strength and unassuming nobility and decency about her which I found refreshing in a show that often wallowed in the darkness.
As for my views, Tara was a character I connected with as someone who also came from an abusive background who is also very shy and introverted, painfully so at times. I caught up with the show during its season 5 run on the BBC and immediately fell in love with Tara as a character, finding a gentle strength and empathy and compassion that I felt safe with. A decent and kind person who embodied love through acceptance. As I was struggling with my own mental health battles with depression and social anxiety, seeing a character who was accepted for all her shyness gave me hope.
Season 6 shattered that hope. I still cannot bring myself to watch Seeing Red even now. Most of Season 6 I felt wallowed too far in the dark, seemingly determined to bring pain for pain's sake, wallowing in misery. Compare that to Angel season 3 that ran alongside it, which was also a very dark season but I felt dealt with that darkness far better and with more balance. Most of the plotlines for season 6 felt forced, and I ne ver bought into the magic addiction storyline at all. To me what was being shown was less about Willow being addicted to a substance but more someone drunk and corrupted by power, so turning it into a lame drugs metaphor seemed forced and lazy for me.
Tara's death however was devastating, both in the way it was done but also in terms of the writing. There is for me no real dramatic necessity to killing off Tara, other than shock value. It was if the writers realised that they didn't have a big finish to the season so came up with one at the 11th hour. May have been planned more long term than that, but it felt so slapdash. As for the scene itself, I still to this day cannot see the writers idea here. They wanted Tara's death not to be some supernatural one but shockingly mundane and ordinary. Okay, laudible goal but then why make the death so extraordinary in its execution.
Warren walks into the back garden screaming the place down, then fires a couple of shots and then one up in the air as he runs away. And yet we are meant to believe that neither Tara nor Willow try and investigate the shouting, or duck when they hear the shots? Instead we are asked to believe that Tara stays stock still, and a bullet fired at an angle goes through the mirror straight at her but doesn't exit straight at Willow who is tanding in front of her? Never been a bullet that ridiculous, even the magic bullet theory seems plausible in comparison. And yet this is how they try and show a mundane and ordinary death.
I found it infuriating, heartbreaking and pathetic and disrespectful to the fans, the character and indeed, Amber herself. Amber did decide not to appear as the embodiment of The First, partially due to scheduling conflicts with Ghosts of Albion, and partially due to her own unwillingness to insult Tara or the fans. B8ut then we get Joss, trying to swerve blame, saying it was always his intention to bring Tara back in season 7. if that was the case, why didn't he lock Amber into a contract for the 2 seasons, ensuring her return? I don't believe his wish storyline for her return at all. I think it was his way of trying to deflect blame.
Season 7 tried too hard to fix the damage from season 6 and for myself, failed utterly. I think it is a better season than 6, but only just. If the writers had only listened to the fans ratehr than stroking their own egos, season 6 wouldn;t have been the holocaust it was and season 7 might have been a great out to the season. However, I do take issue with Buffy's big "here's where you make a choice" speech. Whilst she may be giving that power to the other potentials there by their consent, although possibly not, she gives no choice to the hundreds of potentials around the world no choice and it does have consequences, as Angel season 5 shows.
I have not and never will forgive Joss for what he did. He allowed his ego to take over and to hell with consequences. He is an emotional sadist who made the mistake of believing his fanbase were all willing and eager masochists and he couldn't handle it when he found out they were not. Whilst he has done other things that I liked, I did so inspite of his presence, not because of it. Joss should never be allowed to forget his failure with Tara, both in terms of her character arc or her death, and nor should tv writers in general.
Those are my humble thoughts.
It's taken a long time for me to realize that the means for Tara dying was just very unlikely.
Came here for Tara because I love that character, but wanted to comment about the section on Dawn. I was never one of those people that disliked Dawn, as I saw similar to you how she was going through a lot, and it was understandable she was a bit bratty occasionally. But holy crap, when you put it all together as a list, it really drives that point home, and I went from someone who felt very neutral about Dawn to actively really liking and connecting to her. As an adult, I really appreciate Dawn and how she reacted and responded to those things in her life more. As someone who’s been in situations similar to her in recent years, I can now connect with a lot that I couldn’t on the initial experience.
Just watching this video now, and have to stat my thoughts here at mark 8:17: YES! Dawn hate in fandom: so not justified. The girl is 14/15! All 14 and 15 yr Olds are somewhat whiny and obnoxious; it is the default setting, and they will make really foolish decisions at times. However, Dawn is WONDEFULLY loving, caring, and handles herself VERY admirably through some REALLY traumatic events. My 14/15 year old self would have acted WAY worse than Dawn.
Ok, I'll come back and add more thoughts as I continue. Just wanted to add my ardent support to your Dawn defense.
Back! Just finished the video. VERY well done. Love the message at the end, 100% agree. Everyone, including myself, needs to be more like Tara: empathetic, caring, giving, boundary setting, and truth speaking.
Tara has always been one of my favorite characters on Buffy. By season 6, watching how she takes care of EVERYONE around her with patience, understanding, and love, I was inspired. That is exactly the type of person I want to be. She is not only a wonderful role model for seeing people as PEOPLE first and not obstacles or problems, but she is also a wondeful example for how to be a good romantic partner or family member or friend. She sets boundaries, and she does not tolerate Willow's abuse, but she never reacts with rancor, shaming, or blame. When she has a concern or a moment of hurt to share with the person who wronged her, she does so with quiet strength and love. When Willow honestly makes an effort to change, Tara allows the relationship to start again, making it clear it was never a matter of a lack of love, but rather a lack of trust and the presence of unacceptable behavior. I fully believe that if her blood family made an effort to connect and change their toxic behaviors, Tara would have welcomed them and worked on created healthy relationships, but when people did not change, she moved on and was kind and loving to her new family. We sadly never got to see it, but it was very clear to me that Tara would have stayed true to herself and to her own values in a renewed relationship with Willow and during the events of season 7 (assuming the writers didn't mess that up too...). She is by FAR the most emotionally healthy and strong character in the show.
As someone who had a family member destroy themselves with drugs and negative behavior (for which Willow's magic use was clearly a metaphor), I often reminded myself of Tara; I still offered that person unconditional love, empathy, and a willing ear, but I made sure they were not in a position to abuse me.
Tara is truly is a character that teaches us all so many valuable lessons. Thank you for making this video. You hit the nail on the head. It is saved to my favorites so I can remind myself of all the lessons Tara teaches when I need to. Which is always...
I'm so glad you liked the video and it spoke to you! thank you for watching and sharing your experiences, it's a very brave and generous thing to do :)
This made me cry, i miss tara so much 😭 loved your video!!!
Thanks. That was somehow comforting.
It takes true courage to be kind. It takes strength and persistense to see a human, and nurture towards growth. When life is the big bad, she becomes the rock for everyone. She has such tenasity.
oh my GOD i'm only five minutes in but look i've already had a grudge about lies my parents told me since I watched it but knowing that they cut out a scene of giles confessing that he killed ben makes me SO much angrier oh my god
I love LMPTM but that commentary by the director was infuuuriating to listen to, I edited it down for the sake of the video but literally everyone involved in putting that scene together massively fucked up in not including that scene, the script for it is still online if you're interested and it would've made such a difference!
"if nothing we do matters then all that matters is what we do"
Excellent, thank you so much for this! I agree a hundred percent with all your takes, in particular it’s great to hear somebody besides me enthusiastically make the case for Dawn!
The more times I've rewatched Buffy the more I appreciate her character, she's so kind and strong considering everything shes been through, people are so unnecessarily harsh on her when she's still just a kid! Thanks so much for watching :)
Hopefully it’s not to late to inform you about this 😅
Soo I found the top 😅 it’s by the brand “Chloé”
Great video! Thanks for going into detail so much ❤️
Not only is this one of the best videos about btvs in general, but also one of the best videos I've watched EVER! Thank you so so much!
Thank you for this defense of Dawn! I admire her so much.
Very good job on this analysis. Buffy is such a special and influential show. Thanks for making this! ❤
I've seen the series so many times I want to watch it again for the first time
Fantastic essay, can't find anything to disagree with!!! Brilliant work!!
So many great points and observations you made in this video. Especially when you mention how Tara is a good example for how we can interact and solve real world problems. Thank you!
I have never seen Buffy... so many people love it and I think I should add it to my shows to watch. I love the themes that you shared and I would be upset about how Tara was treated too.
Btw your floral background is so cute!
THANK YOU FOR SAYING SO! It's such a small thing but I found that fabric in the 'discarded trimmings' pile in a craft store and felt like I'd won the lottery for finding fabric that was so high quality and was less than a tenner honestly I was so chuffed so I genuinely really appreciate you commenting on it! 😅 I think it's one of those shows where it can be quite daunting if you've never really gotten into it, but there's a point around Season 2 episode 7 where suddenly the shows premise and themes and philosophies are laid out and it's brutal and beautiful and really adult and poignant, but getting to that point can be -a lot- especially getting through season 1 😅 Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
To me I figure anyone enduring the first 12 episodes should probably be hooked. I recomend it warmly. It doesnt start of brilliant, not for a first time viewer, but I found if nothing else, the pilot made me care for some of the characters. Try it and see.
9:05 late to the party on this one, but given who Spike is, “Seeing Red” was completely in character IMO. His character has always had a intense correlation between love, sex, and violence. He was turned into a vampire while attempting to process feelings of love and loss, which is also a violent process in and of itself. Then with Dru, he openly admits his entire relationship revolves around: “I’ll tie her up, torture her, until she loves me again!” (Lovers Walk). He was conditioned to associate violence and sex with love (similar to how the Initiative tries to condition human violence with pain). His whole life revolves around this, so sadly “Seeing Red” isn’t out of character, as bad as we, the fandom, see it.
finally some dawn appreciation
You've been able to put into words all the problems I have with the way Tara's character (and death) was treated on the show in a much more eloquent way than I ever could. It's such a pity she got killed.😭 I loved her character so much, and she would've fit in to season 7 really well. Not to mention the fact that we wouldn't have had to deal with She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
I'm currently rewatching Buffy for the umpteenth time, and I promised myself to try and enjoy season 6 and 7 this go-around. It's hard for me though, because there's a lot of bad episodes (Seeing Red aka S*x Bad, ugh😒), andI really hate Andrew's character. His q***rcodedness-ness always rubs me the wrong way, especially since he never comes out on the show (I don't do the comics). It's a pity that they chose to let Andrew kill Jonathan instead of the other way around. His character had been on the show longer and was better developed, it feels a bit like they used Andrew to tell a story that should've been Jonathan's.
I thought a lot about which other character they could've killed instead. There had to be a human death due to the fact that Willow cheated when she killed the deer. She had to give a life in return for Buffy's life, and an animal just wouldn't do for Osiris. I narrowed it down to Dawn or Giles, because it has to be someone close to Willow to get her to spiral out of control. It would've been great to see Giles appearing as The First, and maybe in Buffy's dreams. They might've even brought him back to life at some point, because in the movie there's a suggestion that Watchers reincarnate. Killing Dawn maybe would've been a bit to much, even for this show. Idk, I can't decide. Maybe Xander? I mean, if they weren't going to develop his character any further they might as well have killed him.🤷♀️ Plus, they could've had Tara saving the world at the end of 'Grave'.🥰
Anyway, sorry for the long rant, and thanks for keeping me up at night with such a great video.🙃
I'm so glad you liked the video!! I agree that she would've fit into the last season really well, and if she'd been there instead of Kennedy I feel like Willow talking about how she needs to be kept grounded during the finale would've also made more sense as Tara always did that for her.
I completely understand the frustration at how Andrews character was written and treated, the end of Grave where there's a 'gay panic' joke when Andrew and Jonathan are escaping and the Truck Driver is implied to be a creeper absolutely sucks and in the middle of such a profound finale too I hate hate hated it! However overall I do appreciate Andrew's presence just because of the way it allowed the writers to play with narrative and perspective, and I do think that is something they couldn't have done with Jonathan (I'm thinking specifically about 'Storyteller' here), Jonathan kind of went through something similar in 'Superstar' where he changes the narrative to make himself more important and gloss over his insecurities, I kind of liked that Jonathan was on the path to being redeemed when he was killed, finally accepting that it doesn't matter that other people don't care about him, he can still care about other people, it's like he came full circle from 'Earshot' in that way which I guess then makes his death make sense because he'd had a complete arch, Andrew still had so much more growing to do and I think I'm (JUST!) able to look over the shoddiness/homophobia of the way he's written because of the brief moments of treating him and his flaws seriously (the ending of Storyteller and Andrew's friendship with Anya always gets me on rewatches, I just wish both him and Anya had been treated with the same nuance and empathy as the rest of the Scoobies!)
Ooooh Giles dying would've been devastating but would've worked really well, especially in the context of the themes of the show! Although maybe it would've been repeating the same beats as Joyce in some ways idk??
Either way thank you so much for taking the time to watch the video and leave such a thoughtful response, it means a lot, I really appreciate it! :)
Excelent video!!! Do more things like this thanks
04:52 - 05:20 Willow has been my favorite character from the very 1st time I decided to give"Buffy"a shot(and it was not the 1st ep and neither the 1st season...I believe I started to watch during S3 and then I had to go back to watch the previous episodes).These days I decided to rewatch the lovestory between her&Tara but,given how it ends ;"-(,I decided to watch it backwards so I wouldn't end on a sad note.And the more I went back the more I realized _how far_ Willow's"wrong attitude"with magic went!!:-O I have never realized that before!!😱And yet,I *STILL* can't help but to unconditionately love her the way Tara used to do and I wish I could tell her to *stop underestimate herself* because she's the best character of the whole show and,overall,a wonderful person and she deserves all the love and support of the world(yes, that's right,IN YOUR FACE,AMY AND DARK WILLOW!!!>:-O)!💖💖💖💖
05:39 "RANDY GILES?!?!Why not just call me Horny Giles or Desperate-for-a-Shag Giles?!?>:-O I knew there was a reason I hated you!!>.O
Brilliant video, amazing thumbnail
thank you!! I was actually really proud of the thumbnail because im so used to seeing pictures from her death so wanted to contribute something aesthetically pretty and bright like her, thank you for noticing! :)
@@ElleFromSunnydale a wonderful sentiment :)
So right about the treatment of tara I really loved her character and love her and willow together 🥰😁😍😘
never seen buffy but sure as hell watching this entire video uwu
What are you waiting for? Go watch it, Buffy is brilliant! The spin-off is also really good btw.
Owh thank you that's really cool of you, all views appreciated! And if you ever fancy it Buffy is always there waiting for you if the spoilers didn't put you off! :)
By the way, this is a great video
Is anyone gonna say it? I'm gonna say it. FUCK SEEING RED!
Getting back together with Willow is about two through three degree of separation of why Tara was in Warren's line of fire, but I disagree that it means she was killed because she was gentile, compassionate, feminine or in love with a girl. It means any couple (no matter if they are lgbtq or straight) could have been in Warren's line of fire under were they to have just restarted a relationship.
I don't think the characters ever act OOC, even in S7. Even the "Willow said kick his ass" line resurfacing five seasons later showed characters are living lives five years later. Buffy has learned to expect that kind of attitude from Xander and has dealt with moving on as best she could. But Xander's attitude about Anya is making him hypocritical towards what Buffy's relationship with Angel was. That gets under Buffy's skin, whether she has moved on or not. If you think about it, Xander not being held accountable for everything from his "jokes" to his attitude to his anger issues; he is never held accountable for any of those things including "Willow said kick his ass." But that line is just the tip of the iceberg of Xander not being held accountable. His character's personality is based around him being mean spirited to everyone, even his friends, and never being held accountable. Its why I find it in character.
I hate that Tara's loss isn't felt more in S7, but that issue, for me, revolves around too much time being spent on a season-long apocalypse considered as a final send off apocalypse for the series. I think one thing S7 did that isn't acknowledged is the real possibility of issues more than likely happening in-between episodes. Too much time was spent on exposition for the major storyline and not enough character-based episodes.
"Calling Buffy "nuts" in _Intervention_ so as to conform to the rest of the group didn't show Tara in a good light, but I don't consider that her using shame either. Changing that idea later in S6 and not judging Buffy but instead listening and helping her makes me feel that she could only do so if she wasn't dating Willow because Tara wanted so badly to be a part of the group she never felt a part of, as she admitted on 5x01
Can I rant about Xander? Much as I hate The Lie, him telling Dawn what Spike tried to do to Buffy was far worse. How dare he, how fucking DARE he take away Buffy’s very RIGHT to tell who she wants to tell? And I already know the response some are going to want to give. “But he was right, Spike tried to **** Buffy, there’s no way Xander would have taken Dawn to him.” And you’re right. And if Xander had instead said “look, I know you like him, but trust me, he’s dangerous,” and Dawn kept pushing, I’d have forgiven that, absolutely. But he didn’t. He said it in the most disgustingly tactless and casual way. I would NEVER forgive someone who revealed something that traumatic and personal. Sorry, I’ll get off the soapbox now. Loved this video. Tara was such a fabulous character and she deserved so much better.
But yeah totally re: Tara in the opening credits ....and season seven apart from characters acting out of character although yeah on Xander.
I honestly don't understand the dawn hate I was confused when she showed up but I never disliked her
The Xander lie from season 2 just wasn't that big a deal. They only brought it up because fans had been harping on it for years. I loved that they just blah, blah'd right past it. The idea it would matter 5 years later after all they've been through and where they are in their lives is laughable.
She's the best and I'm still mad at joss
Sorry, I'm still in the Dawn is shrill and whinny camp. :)
well, I tried! thanks for watching anyway!
Sorry babe - you got Spike's motivation at the end of season six in the cave wrong and this is why writers you don't try to do a mislead like that....because some even smart people will get the wrong idea.
Stopped watching as soon as u say your pro nouns
Congratulations?
*pronouns *said
Fun fact: the weapon is neither a scythe nor a sickle. It's an axe and a spear. It bears no resemblance at all to a scythe. So your reference to Buffy being the Communist you hope she is doesn't hold water. I will finish watching because Tara is my second fave after Faith, and want to hear your take.
Okay. I had to stop half way through. Gave you a chance but justifying your political agenda by twisting stories and characters is not my thing. Tara is not a victim. She's a hero. Shit happens to her and she doesn't cry about it. She fights on. She is always there for her friends (Family) and never stops in that. She always steps up to defend and support and comfort and call out when necessary. To paint Tara as a victim is just wrong. A weak victim would never represent as the voice of the first slayer. And I'm out. Tip: keep politics out of it.
@@jamescarson6823 I wish you'd watched the whole way through, but thank you for giving it a go anyway. I don't believe it's possible to leave politics out of anything, everything that is created by people is impacted by the society we live in, the society we live in is impacted by politics. But fair enough if this wasn't for you. And we can absolutely agree Tara was a hero. Thanks :)
@@ElleFromSunnydale We may disagree on some things, but we are entitled to our opinions, and I respect yours, while disagreeing. ;) But really, it's not a scythe nor a sickle. It's an axe and a spear. And yes, Tara rules! Happy New Year!